When the Clock Ticks Backwards
by Jaseyraeisnotokay
Summary: (AU) Takes place on Deku's third year. During his internship, Midoriya saved a young woman from a villain. The next day, he realized something was wrong. Apparently, he switched bodies with a girl who goes in an all – girl school. Secrets are revealed, and one of them attempts to save the other from an untimely demise.


**Chapter 1: The Green Hero**

* * *

Quirk. A person born with a quirk possessed superpower abilities, as defined in the dictionary. In my world, eighty percent of the population was born with quirks, whereas the remaining twenty percent doesn't, and were dubbed as 'quirkless'.Here, it's not peculiar to meet a person who can breath fire, lift objects, stretch any part of your body, manipulate water, create ice, or even morph into someone else. It's very common.

My name is Mei Unmei, and unlike any people, I hated my quirk. I wished that I was quirkless so I can live a normal life without the fear of the future. I don't like talking about it, in fact only me and my grandmother knew about my quirk. The rest had no idea, they just assumed that I'm a quirkless girl.

Ever since I was a child, I can see numbers. And not just any random numbers counting down. These numbers appears on the top of people's heads, like they're a Sims character. At first, I thought it's just natural, and never thought much about it. I asked mom but she never believed me, she thought that I was just playing tricks on her.

Until I was thirteen.

I was at my gym class and we're about to do some physical fitness assessment test without using our quirks. It's such a painful exercise. It felt like participating the Olympics and you'll be on the very last spot. That's a pretty bad memory.

During the water break, I sulked down on the bleachers and drank one liter of water in one go. I was very tired. One of my classmates joined me, she took the vacant seat and wiped off the sweat on her forehead. I glanced up at the top of her head, and saw the weird numbers again.

8: 47 : 54

I noticed that the last two numbers were counted backwards. I didn't understood the significance of those numbers. Until….

The next day, I did my morning routine and went to school. But as soon as I reached my classroom, something was odd. My classmates looked solemn, and the seat at the last row was empty.

_What happened?_

I walked up to my chair at the front of the class and tossed my bag under my desk. I took out my phone to play the latest game I installed last night.

"Why did she have to die."

"Yeah, it's so shocking."

That caught my attention. I twisted from my seat and saw two girls talking.

"Who died?" I asked.

"Kyoko Kobayashi. She died in her sleep last night."

If I remembered correctly, she was the redhead girl who sat beside me yesterday. What a young age to die. My section attended her funeral, we listened to the emotional eulogy of her parents of how cheerful and optimistic their only daughter was. It's really sad to see a ray of sunlight pass away so sudden, but it's sadder to know that the parents have to witness and bury their own child.

I couldn't stop thinking about it, I might not be good friends with her, but I knew her since preschool. She was excellent in academics, sports and in student governance. She's the perfect daughter a parent could wish for. Her sudden death stunned everyone, including me, who never got the chance to be her friend.

"What are those numbers, granny?" I asked my grandma one day. We were watching the U.A. Sports Festival, I'm not a sports fan, but I loved watching kids use their quirks in competitions like this. During the Cavalry Battle, the numbers on the screen were just like the thing I always saw.

"It's a timer," she beamed. "The players needs to collect the headbands before time runs out."

"What?"

I was horrified to learn the significance of those numbers, why were they counted backwards. The first number represents the number of hourss, the second was the minutes and the last was seconds. That meant only one thing; I can see how many hours a person has before his time 'runs out.'

At first, refused to believe it, that those were just coincidence. But when my grandma passed away, I started to believe it. Her eyes closed forever the same time the countdown stopped.

I checked the mirror, but I never had that timer. Guess I was not allowed to see my own.

When I started highschool, i couldn't bare to accept my quirk. Luckily, I bought a reading glasses that can cancel out the user's quirk. I've been using this since then to avoid seeing the exact date of people's death. I felt contented to live a quirkless life, to live everyday not traumatized by the future.

I can't change the future after all…

* * *

Midoriya stared at his reflection in the mirror. His hero costume changed a lot since his first year at U.A. High. His arm gauntlets were upgraded to protect his arm from physical damage and added leg boosters helped accelerate his Full Cowl move. He also started wearing his green mask hood, it was finally the right measurement so it won't slip off from his head easily. He really changed a lot.

After dressing up, he walked out of the hero agency and started the last nigh of his internship. He was tasked to patrol around the outskirts of town where many crimes happen. His shift started at 6:00 pm and was assigned to stay there until midnight.

He walked around bored, five days have passed, but no villain had appeared. He couldn't help but feel that he just wasted his internship, he applied here because he wanted to boost his Full Cowl and his combat skills. How will he ever be the greatest hero like All Might if he just parade around here?

Just then, he heard a shriek coming from a dark alleyway.

"Help! Someone help me!"

_Five minutes ago_

Mia Unmei came home late again. She stayed in the library to finish her research paper that's due next week. She somehow regret that she chose general studies as her course, it's like being a student and a teacher at the same time. The worse was that she studied in Aemilius Private Academy where they only accept female students. She received a scholarship because of her excellent marks in middle school. It was fun and stressful at the same time. But she's already in her third year of high school, in just a few months, she'll be graduating. Time flies so fast.

She found herself walking in a suspicious street with old looking buildings which was the shortest route to her apartment. She used the flashlight app on her phone to help her make her way into the dark night.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, before she realized it, she felt a palm cover her mouth, suffocating her. She attempted to wriggle her body and kick the man, but she couldn't. He was far too strong for her.

"You look really cute in your uniform, miss" the man smirked. "But you'll look better without it."

As the man evilly laughed, she took this as an opening. She grabbed the dagger from her pocket to stab him. He quickly caught the movement and snatched the knife, scratching his hand. He groaned in pain, Unmei was about to run, but he forcefully grabbed her wrist and dragged her.

"You stupid bitch," he spat out, holding the knife against her neck.

"Help!" she screamed. "Someone help me!"

"No one's gonna save you now!" he slapped her hard on the cheek, the impact almost send her flying. Her glasses fell on the ground, shattering it to pieces. She winced, tears formed on her eyes as she heard the sounds of tearing fabric.

_No one's gonna save me now_, she bitterly thought.

"Get your hands off her!"

Unmei glanced up to see her savior, he was a blurry vision of a young man in green hero costume and red boots. She jumped down from the rooftops, streaks of green lightning formed around his body. She barely noticed the golden numbers flashed above the hero's head.

The villain snickered. "As if I'd listen to a brat like you."

The hero lunged forward at the villain, slamming his powerful punch on the man's cheek. He stumbled down due to the strong impact.

"Are you alright, miss?" she heard him said. He quickly assisted her to get up and escape while the villain's away. She kept her head down, not wanting to see those numbers again. Instead, she picked up her stuffs on the ground and fixed her uniform.

"I'm fine, hero. Thank you," she said bluntly.

A few moments later, she noticed that he wasn't moving on his spot. She finally looked up at him, he had a fluffy, green hair that matched his eyes with dark freckles scattered across his cheeks. She frowned when she realized he wasn't looking at her. On his head, the numbers continued counting down, until she noticed something…

"GET DOWN!"

But before she moved, she felt a sharp pain, like a knife struck on her body then her world blacked out. She fell down on the endless, black void as she drifted into a deep sleep.


End file.
